The street lanterns were lighting up the Corniche with a pale yellow shine as the last colors of the sunset were turning the sky into a grayish cloak that gave the buildings along the sea a deconstructed look, a more melancholic touch, as opposed to the pearl-like effect that sunlight grants to the structures bordered by the Mediterranean in this city.

My last hours in Alexandria were spent at the Montaza Park, which is part of the al-Montaza district, the largest of the Governorate by population, with 1.2 Million inhabitants.

Inside Montaza Park, which is in all the meaning of the expression the green lung of the city with a total of 61 ha. of landscape park, there's the Montaza Palace, built by the order of Khedive Abbas II of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty as a hunting lodge. Later on, the Al-Haramlik Palace in Turkish and Florentine style was added to the palace grounds and was used as a summer palace by King Fuad I. This Palace was then turned into the official presidential residence under Anwar al-Sadat and was recently used by Hosni Mubarak until the 2011 Revolution.

We stopped at a bridge facing a beach to look at the impressive Al-Haramlik Palace- the mixture of styles, its size and grandeur, its turned off lights- every detail spoke about the changes that the country has experienced in a very short span of time, and I could start to grasp what it has meant for egyptians. Who knows if the lights will be turned on again, but as a museum? Or maybe it will keep its latest function, but under another ruler?

Al-Haramlik Palace as seen from a bridge near the beach. As you can see, the Montaza Park is a quite affluent neighbourhood with yachts and hotels.

Al-Haramlik Palace by night. The only lights that are turned on are those of the tower.

Saying good-bye to Alexandria.

With more questions in my head than ever, I took a couple of pictures and returned to the car. The temperature had changed: the lovely warm weather of the day was then a cold breeze that made us shiver.It was about time to hit the road and drive back to Cairo.

 Saying goodbye to Alexandria was not that hard. because I simply know I'll be back again. Maybe not this year nor the next one. But in the near future, I intend to visit the city and stay for a longer time. Alexandria, with all its wonders and history, is still a treasure chest which awaits to be opened and explored more profoundly.


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Have a nice day,
Astrid